Working in a confined space…

In some respects dealing with a threat in a confined space is easier than having an infinite amount of space available to work in, as there are less options to consider. In most confined spaces I would imagine that you are either the one trying to contain someone or the roles are reversed and you are the one under threat. Perhaps the situation is that you are working the door and the object is simple, keep the undesirables out of the premises that you are protecting, the confined space then might be the doorway itself... Thinking about this situation it could equally apply to your own home, where you might come up against someone trying to enter your house and you need to protect your family from harm. Other confined spaces you might come across are the bus, train, in your own or someone else's car, the corner shop, in your home, at the office, who knows the possibilities are endless, so the more you think about it the chances of being caught in a confined space are more likely than out in an open space.

The possibility of there just being one exit from the confined space you might find yourself in adds to the pressure of survival... Being held against your will in a threatening position with little room to manoeuvre means that options are limited and your decision making process must be decisive and positive, the same applies if you are defending a position, your instincts must take over to be successful.

In the pictures below Rob is defending a doorway, the choices he has to make are dependant largely on the threat facing him and how determined the threat is and whether armed or unarmed, as luck would have it in this instance Paul was unarmed..

 

Having worked this drill in class on Saturday, it was clear to me that there were three choices for me to make, keep the opponent out totally defending the area just in front of the doorway, secondly, step just behind the door entrance in order to trap the man within the area of the frame, which then gave me more options, using the frame as apart of my defence, bouncing my opponent around and off the woodwork creating arm bars across the frame, even using the door itself as a tool. The next option I tried was to let the opponent feel as though he had gained entry by letting him take one stride through the door letting him think that I'd given way to his forceful entry, once in side the trap I closed him down and took him down to the floor. I found that all of these ways of working in and around a doorway for this particular drill worked quite well.

Below: Rob again working against Paul but this time Rob is keeping Paul away from the doorway in a proactive way with the use of strikes, but always taking his work to a conclusion.

Cheers

Steve